The government of Hamburg is divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches. Due to
the characteristic that Hamburg is a city-state and a municipality in Germany, the governance deals several details
of state politics and community politics. It takes place in two
ranks; a city-wide and state administration, and a local rank for
the boroughs. Head for city-wide and state administration is the minister-president, called
Erster Bürgermeister (First Mayor). A ministry is called
Behörde (office) and a state minister is a Senator in
Hamburg. The legislature is the state parliament, called Hamburgische
Bürgerschaft, and the judicial branch is composed of the
state supreme court and other courts. The seat of the government is
Hamburg
Rathaus.

Political
system

The Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg is its own state in the
Federal Republic of Germany. Hamburg is a republic, democraticwelfare state and a
constitutional
state. At the same time Hamburg is a municipality, there is no
separation between these two administrative tasks.[1] The
power to create a law is restricted by federal law.

Legislature

The power to create, amend and ratify laws (legislature) is given
to the parliament. A plebiscite and a referendum is possible due to the
Constitution of Hamburg. In other German states the parliament is
called Landtag.

The parliament is among other things responsible for the law,
the election of the Erster Bürgermeister (First Burgomaster) for
the election period and the control of the Senate (cabinet). The parliament is a
unicameral parliament and the 121 deputies are elected in
universal, direct, free, equal and secret elections every four
years.[2][3]

Executive

Room of the Senat

The executive is the Senat der
Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg (Senate of Hamburg / cabinet).
Its purpose is to enforce the laws. The senate is responsible for
the day-to-day management and head of this branch is the First
Mayor. The senate represents Hamburg to the federal government and
other states or countries.[4]

The Senat der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg is formed
by the First Mayor of Hamburg,[5]
the prime
minister and mayor of Hamburg. His deputy is the Second Mayor.
The senate is permitted no more than 12 members by law. This law
also regulates among other, the remuneration, pension, privilege to
refuse to give evidence and the legal position of Hamburg judges.
The senetors get appointed by the First Mayor and thereafter they
need to get elected by Hamburg Parliament.[6] The
First Mayor forms the ministries, according to the coalition
agreement of the ruling parties.

History

Until 1860 the government of Hamburg was called Rath or
Rat (board/council), the members had been
Ratsherrn (aldermen) and Bürgermeister
(Burgomaster). After a change of the Constitution of Hamburg in
1861 the government was called Hamburger Senat.

Prior to the first
world war the two mayors were elected for one-year-terms. Until
1997 the First Mayor was Primus inter pares among his
colleagues in the Senate, by whom he was elected. Since then, he
has been elected by the parliament and been able appoint and to
dismiss other Senators.[5]

Judiciary

Supreme Court of Hamburg

Interpreting the law (Judiciary) is task of the Hamburgisches
Verfassungsgericht (Constitutional Court of Hamburg) and 17
more courts of Hamburg.

The supreme court consists of a president of the court and 8
judges. The president and 3 judges are have to be life time judges
in Hamburg. The Diet of Hamburg elect the judges for 6 years and
they only can once get reelected. The schedule of responsibilities
are based on the constitution of Hamburg (Art. 65) and the
Gesetzes über das Hamburgische Verfassungsgericht (Law of
the Constitutional Court of Hamburg) (§ 14).

The professional judges of the other courts are appointed by the
senate according to a nomination of a committee.[7]

Ministries

In 2008, there are 9 senators holding ministerial positions and
the head of state, the First mayor.[8] A
senator is the presiding minister for a Behörde
(translated: 'government agency' meaning here is more ministry).

State Chancellery

The State Chancellery (German: Senatskanzlei)
coordinate the senate and support the mayor. The First Mayor is
head in this government agency. In 2008, the First Mayor of Hamburg
is Ole von
Beust.[8]

Ministry of Schools and Vocational Training

The ministry (German: Behörde für Schule und
Berufsbildung) is responsible for the school system in
Hamburg. In 2008, the head is Christa Goetsch (GAL). Goetsch is also Second
Mayor.[8]

Among others the Behörde für Inneres is the oversight
authority for the law enforcement
agencies in Hamburg, the fire brigade, for disaster control and
its units, the residents registration offices, the State Election
Office and the Scientology
Task Force (Arbeitsgruppe Scientology).[9]
In 2008, Christoph Ahlhaus (CDU) is the
Minister of the Interior.[8]

On May 7, 2008 the former Ministry of Culture was changed to the
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Media (German: Behörde für
Kultur, Sport und Medien), now among other responsible for
tourism, the public record office of Hamburg, the office of the
protection of historical monuments and the memorial site for the Neuengamme concentration
camp.[11] In
2005 the annual budget was
€212.7 million.[12] In
2008, Prof. Dr. Karin von Welck was the head of the ministry.[8]

Law
enforcement

Chief police officer of the Hamburg police department on assignment
at Hamburg city hall.

Since law enforcement and police duties are partly in the
responsibility of the German states, Hamburg has its own police force.
This forces consists of the state policePolizei Hamburg,
the State Criminal Police Office (German: Landeskriminalamt), the Criminal
Investigation Services (Kriminalpolizei), the Water Police
(Wasserschutzpolizei)
controlling traffic in the port of Hamburg, the Stand-by Police
(Bereitschaftspolizei), the
Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (Spezialeinsatzkommando) and
Mobile Surveillance Units (Mobiles Einsatzkommando).[13] The
State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Landesamt
für den Verfassungsschutz) is Hamburg's domestic intelligence agency. The Ministry
of the Interior has the legal and technical oversight for the law
enforcement agencies.[9]

Honours and
awards

The highest honour given by the Free and Hanseatic City of
Hamburg is the honorary
citizenship (Ehrenbürgerrecht). It is given by the
senate, if the parliament confirmed the motion of the senate. The
honorary citizenship is comparable to the honour Freedom of
the City.[17]

The Golden Book consists of the signatures of
especially honoured guests of Hamburg. The book itself is a box
with not fixed sheets. It is folded in golden leather and a gift of
the family of the First Mayor Carl Friedrich Petersen (1809 –
1892).[18] In
1937 the German leader Adolf Hitler signed the book before giving
a public speech in Hamburg.[19]
During the denazification Hitler's sheet, as these
from other Nazis, was removed from the book. The only signature
remained is from Joseph Goebbels, because he wrote on
the same sheet as the former German President Paul von
Hindenburg.[20] The
Dalai
Lama signed the Golden Book during his 5th visit in Hamburg in
February 2007.[21]

Decorations

Fire medal from 1843.

Hanseatic Cross

Hamburg citizens were not allowed to receive decorations — only
medals or medallions. This act
was first enlawed for members of the senate and Hamburg's judges,
later the act was false legally extended for all citizens by the
Senate of Hamburg. The act originated from the Hamburg city law of
the 13th century.[22]
One of the few Hanseaten – citizens of a Hanseatic city –
who received decoration was Alwin Münchmeyer, an entrepreneur.
Münchmeyer stated later, that this were his "falls of mankind".[23] Even
Helmut Schmidt
— former Hamburg Senator of the Interior and German chancellor — declined several times
to be awarded with the Federal Cross of
Merit, stating he had been a Hamburg senator and according to
the Hanseatic tradition not allowed to wear decorations.

In 1843 the Hamburg fire medal was awarded to the volunteers,
who came to help during the great fire from 5 May until 8 May 1842.
In total 4858 medals were awarded from the grateful Hamburg in
distress to its friends,[24] as
the inscription states "Das Dankbare Hamburg Seinen Freunden In Der
Noth".

During World War
I (1914 – 1918) the Hanseatic Cross (German:
Hanseatenkreuz) was a decoration of the three Hanseatic
Cities of Bremen, Hamburg
and Lübeck, who were
member states of the German Empire. Each city-state
established its own version of the cross, but the design and award
criteria were similar for each. There were approximately 50,000
awards of the Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg.

Medallions

In 2007 the Herbert Weichmann medallion – named for the
First Mayor Herbert Weichmann (in office 1965 –
1971) – was granted for the first time by the city of Hamburg,[25]
honoring "those - both Jewish and non-Jewish - who have contributed
to Jewish life in Germany".[26] First
recipients were Paul
Spiegel (posthumous), who was a member of the executive
committee of the Zentralrat der
Juden, and Hinrich Reemtsma, whose foundation constributed
€500,000 for the removal of the Jewish community centre in
Hamburg.[25]